


The Long Haul

by Anonymous



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Difficult Delivery, Everybody Is Okay At The End, Exhausted Castiel, Happy Ending, Helpless Dean Winchester, Helpless Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pregnant Castiel (Supernatural), Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Sam Winchester, Rough Labour, Sastiel - Freeform, Scared Castiel (Supernatural), Scared Dean Winchester, Scared Sam Winchester, Though They Were All Scared Until Then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 08:51:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18869854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Castiel’s been in labour for twenty-three hours with no sign of the baby appearing.As the angel starts to weaken, the brothers have to face their fears...that neither Cas or his fledgling are going to make it through this.





	The Long Haul

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILER ALERT!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> It gets scary, but Cas and little fluffy winged baby angel are all okay at the end.

It was risky, Dean knew it, and that was why he hadn’t told Cas, had just said he was going to get some more water, and then quickly ran through the bunker, up the stairs, and to the outside.

You could still pray to angels from inside their warded walls, but if you wanted to actually speak to one face to face, that mean stepping outside the bunker’s protection.

Not that there were a lot of angels left to pray to, these days, which Dean kept telling himself was why nobody had answered the other four times he’d done this, why nobody had shown up yet.

They were aways from Heaven’s back door, but even so he was pretty sure one of them would have at least called to say they were coming.

Every prayer had included his cell number and while a visit would be appreciated, even some over the phone advice would do.

He got neither.

So now, when he stood there, he was beyond desperate and all he had left was anger and hate.

He glanced down the road, just in case there was anybody coming but it was empty just like before.

So he didn’t hold back.

_He’s your brother. But okay - he’s our family now, and we’ll take care of him. None of you better dare show up near us looking for a favour or I’ll make sure he’s the only one of you fuckers left_.

An empty threat, he would never do that to Cas, but all the same if things went south here and Cas...or the baby…

No.

Dean went back inside, and locked the door behind him, and got the water as he’d promised.

++

Sam frowned when Cas squeezed his hand. He was in no desire to have his bones cracked by angelic strength, but his fingers barely ached, and that scared him.

He dabbed a damp cloth over Cas’s forehead, cheeks and neck, and them dumped it back in the basin of ice water.

“Cas, you gotta hang on,” he pleaded. “We’ll get you through this.”

Cas panted as another contraction ripped through him, and then he sagged back looking as exhausted as Sam was sure the angel felt.

He’d been in labour for nearly a whole day and, while he’d told them to expect the unexpected since angels didn’t conceive or give give birth in vessels often (and Cas’s body was no longer his vessel, it was _him_ ) this was gruelling and Sam wasn’t sure Cas had even another hour of it in him.

But there was no sign yet that the baby was even an inch closer to making an entrance.

“It’ll be alright,” Cas said, but every word was an effort. He looked up at Sam, and Sam knew when he was being coddled, because Cas was trying to reassure him, but under it, Sam could see his angel was scared too.

Dean came back in, then, his arms full with bottles of water, and he put them down on the table.

He glanced at Sam, who knew what Dean had been up to, and shook his head.

No, Sam wasn’t surprised. The angels turned up only when they wanted something from Cas, and the rest of the time they didn’t give a shit what happened to him.

Though he’d have thought...given there were so few of them left...that they might have made an exception now, to make sure Cas survived this, that the baby survived this.

Maybe the problem was that it was _Cas_. Desperate though the angels were, low in number to the point where Heaven could fail at any moment, maybe they were still grudging their black sheep little brother even being an angel.

Fine. As far as Sam was concerned, the angels had given up any right to consider Cas their family, anyway.

He was a Winchester now, had been for years, and his real family would get him through this. No matter what it took.

Another contraction came, and Cas shuddered with the force of it like he was going to shake apart.

Dean crouched down at the foot of the bed, and peered under the blanket draped over Cas’s knees.

He straightened up, shook his head, and poured Cas some cold water.

Sam knew when Dean was silent, it usually meant one of two things: he was sick.

Or he was scared.

++

They had to take shifts, because both of them being dead on their feet made things riskier for Cas, so Sam slept next, and Dean stayed by their angel’s side.

He woke Sam in four hours, with the news that nothing had changed, except Cas seemed weaker, and Sam wanted to cry.

They’d done everything right from the moment Cas had told them he’d conceived. Mixed angelic and human knowledge on child bearing, sought all the help they could from friendly sources (Rowena had stepped up for them in ways they could never repay) but it felt like all of it had been for nothing.

That life was doing it to them again, dangling a chance at being happy in front of them and then to cruelly, painfully snatch that away at the last moment.

He couldn't lose Cas and his kid. Dean would be just as broken and their family would shatter apart.

The thought of going back to just the two of them, knowing what they’d had before…

He couldn’t do it.

But even Winchesters couldn’t win every battle, and as Sam sat watching Cas hold on with every ounce of strength he possessed, he had the feeling it was losing this one that would hurt the most.

++

Sam jerked, alarmed, as Dean shook him. It wasn’t the _okay, time to get up _shake he’d gotten used to over the last day and a half.__

__It was urgent, and Dean was yelling at him too, and Sam’s heart stopped._ _

__He looked fearfully at the bed, but Cas was hunched forward, gripping the back of his thighs, face taut with strain._ _

__“It’s coming!” Dean yelled at him and Sam nearly tripped rushing to Cas’s side._ _

__He was exhausted, and weak, and so Sam ended up getting on the bed behind him, and supporting him in between pushing so he could recoup as much of his strength for the next go._ _

__Dean was kneeling on the bed, between Cas’s legs, and he looked as focused as Sam had ever seen him._ _

__They would never do anything as important as this ever again._ _

__“I’ve got the head,” he said, and Cas cried out as he bore down again._ _

__It took another two, three deep pushes, and then Dean jerked, and he was holding something, and Cas slumped back into Sam’s arms._ _

__A moment later, Dean was holding a blood stained, squealing, wriggling new life in his hands, with sodden black wings fluttering in angry protest at the delayed but now complete entrance into the world._ _

__He wrapped the baby in a towel, and carefully passed it up; Sam had to tuck his arms under Cas’s to help the angel hold the bundle to him._ _

__“Little boy,” Dean said. “Just what this family needs.”_ _

__But he was laughing, and there were tears in his eyes, and Sam stroked his baby’s cheek before turning to kiss the angel who’d gone through this for him, for them, and granted them their own personal miracle._ _

__Cas looked up at him, and then tucked his head into Sam’s chest, tired, grateful, and that was how they stayed for a while._ _


End file.
